


Chapter 7: I'll Try Anything Once

by distantlight



Series: Albus & Scorpius: Life Is Simple In The Moonlight [7]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gay, LGBT, Love Triangle, M/M, Masturbation, Scorbus, Winter, queer, the strokes - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-12
Updated: 2016-09-12
Packaged: 2018-08-14 14:19:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8017303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/distantlight/pseuds/distantlight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Albus & Scorpius are no longer on speaking terms. An ice rink is been installed at the castle with hazardous results. As Christmas approaches, festive passions take over...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chapter 7: I'll Try Anything Once

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter ended up being longer than expected as well...hopefully the payoff at the end is worth it!
> 
> Chapter 7 of the [Albus & Scorpius: Life Is Simple In The Moonlight](http://archiveofourown.org/series/539242) series.

It took Albus nearly a week to recover from the resentment that had invaded his soul. He felt, whether justly or not, that Scorpius had betrayed him. The moment they had shared on the lake only a month ago was permanently etched upon his mind, their bodies pressed close together, engulfed in a fire of passion and lust. He could not simply dismiss it as meaningless fun or natural experimentation or the product of boredom, the way Scorpius was able to. It had meant everything to Albus, and seeing his friend kiss Rose with the same passion had tarnished the memory.

Albus had never felt more isolated. His brother James, noticing that his brother seemed even quieter and more broody than usual, tried to make him feel better by including him in activities. Paris Black buzzed around him, telling jokes, suggesting adventures, but even his indefatigable self had to give up by the third day, when the black cloud surrounding Albus threatened to suffocate him as well.

"You've got a face longer than a double History of Magic lesson," he had complained, and sprinted away to ice skate on the Quidditch pitch, which had been turned into a rink for the last week of term.

In the midst of all this misery, Albus had somehow stumbled into his second kiss with a girl. One snowy morning he had been explaining to Selena Black the events that had occurred on the night he left the Yule Ball - albeit a slightly modified version. In the restructured narrative, discovering Scorpius and Rose in the throes of an amorous embrace had been a source of great comedy to Albus, and the reason he was no longer on speaking terms with Scorpius was because he had been teasing him about it so often. This was necessary because Selena had asked why he hadn't been seen with his best friend all week – Albus and Scorpius had been attached at the hip for so many years that people were prone to notice if they spent even a day apart.

"Had a lovers tiff, have we?" mocked Rickon Waddle in potions, when he noticed the two boys sat at opposite sides of the room. "Getting a divorce?"

"Your jaw will get a divorce from your face if you don't shut up," said Scorpius coldly, glancing over at Albus who fixed his gaze firmly on his cauldron sulkily.

In the middle of explaining himself to Selena that morning, she had lazily cast her head to the sky to view the enchanted ceiling which was still releasing glittering ornamental snow. Her eyes suddenly glazed over.

"Mistletoe," she murmured, noticing the green wreath swinging above us.

"Oh, cool," said Albus, arching his head upwards and suddenly feeling very nervous. He blushed momentarily, frozen on the spot.

Before he could act Selena's arms were around his neck, she was standing on tiptoes and leaning up towards him. She greeted him like a friend at first, with a platonic peck on the cheek. And as he smiled anxiously she drew his lips in for a long, slow kiss. He loved the warmth of her gums, the sweet flavors of cinnamon and molasses, the skillful tongue that seemed to caress every part of his mouth.

Unfortunately Scorpius had chosen just that moment to walk into breakfast, side by side with Vince Crane. While Crane let out a whoop of delight , clenched his fist in mock celebration and gave a clearly audible "Get in there, Albus!", Scorpius could only manage to raise his eyebrows and shake his head. After a week of feeling guilty about supposedly betraying his friend by getting off with a girl in the privacy of his own cabin, Albus was now having languorous kisses with a female admirer in the middle of the Great Hall. Hypocrisy had always angered Scorpius, and he ate his toast with seething venom that morning, as if every bite he tore off was a finger on Albus' hand.

For his part, Albus had scurried away greatly embarrassed, having to apologise to Selena for walking out on her for the second time in a week. He was forced to spend a torturous morning starving in double transfiguration having not had any breakfast.

Scorpius had been suffering himself since the night of the ball. He and Rose went pink with embarrassment when they passed each other in the corridors, and had not spoken since their drunken clinch. He wasn't sure how he felt about the whole situation – he had fantasized about getting off with Rose ever since they started school together aged eleven, but now it had happened everything had gone so weird. It had cost him the company of his best friend, and he absolutely nothing to show for it. If anything, Rose seemed to dislike him now more than ever; he had almost preferred it when she had belittled him and been openly hostile. The current silent treatment hurt far more than any offhand insult she might throw at him.

Weirdly, he found that now he had kissed Rose, now he had felt her slim body pushed against the floor underneath him, now he had felt her flowing red hair intertwined in his lips as he tried to kiss her, his passion for her had somehow dissipated. He no longer dreamed about her pale body, or her gradually swelling breasts, or the tufts of ginger hair above the entrance he had been so desperate to penetrate. The idle dream had been better than the harsh reality. Their interrupted drunken fumble in the cold was a far cry from the romantic love making he had always envisioned them having. The trouble the whole thing had caused seemed to sully it all, and though a flicker of the hormonal lust still remained, he no longer found the prospect of dating her attractive. Certainly not if it meant losing his best friend.

In fact, Scorpius was surprised to find that his daydreams were starting to turn constantly towards Albus. After only a couple of days of not talking he realised how lonely he felt without his reassuring best friend. He was desperate to talk to Albus, to sit by the fire playing chess and shutting the world out. Albus asked nothing from him, let him be himself without any artifice or ego.

Stranger still, Scorpius' thoughts were constantly straying back to that fateful night at the lake, and every time he cast his mind over it he felt a weird stirring in his loins. He found his mind drifting in lessons, thinking of his fingers running over that smooth, skinny body, and their tongues entangling in each others mouths. He was surprised to realise that nothing gave him a feeling of serenity like imagining falling asleep next to his friend, curled up together, sharing their warmth.

Scorpius had always admired Albus from what he thought was an objective standpoint, like a painter surveying his subject. He liked the depth in those green eyes, the shade of definition on his smooth torso, the soft jet black hair. Now he wondered whether admiration was morphing into something else.

Still, Scorpius wasn't one to dwell on emotions, and tried to use distraction therapy when he felt these thoughts coming along, contemplating Quidditch tactics or Charms homework instead. He didn't want to become the clichéd angst ridden teenager, analysing every desire and feeling. And he wasn't gay, he was confident of that. His sexual thoughts were entirely focused towards the female gender, with only one exception: Albus.

 

\---------------

 

Albus had decided he was not going home for Christmas. His relationship with his father had been at an all time low lately, and in any case he didn't want to inflict his own miserable mood on the rest of his family and spoil their day. He sent Harry a message by first class owl informing of him of the decision, explaining that he wanted to stay at the castle and study, to monitor some potions he had been brewing.

The reply arrived speedily. Harry and Ginny tried desperately to persuade Albus to come home for the holidays, saying that Christmas would not be the same without him. Albus wrote back rather tersely, reminding his parents that they were always nagging him to study more, yet now when he was actually showing some dedication they were instead trying to drag him away from his learning. He also noted that Harry had spent years reminiscing about the Christmas holidays that _he_ had spent at Hogwarts, so it seemed rather hypocritical to deny Albus the same pleasure of Christmas in the castle.

"That was because dad had nowhere else to go when he was at school," protested James. "You have a family. Uncle Ron and Auntie Hermione are coming as well; you don't want to miss out on the present bonanza!"

This was another reason for Albus to stay away – the last thing he wanted was to make small talk with Rose around the dinner table, pretending that every time he glanced at her he didn't see her startled face looking up from beneath Scorpius and her hand caressing his ass.

Rose seemed to sense this, and after James told her that Albus was staying at school over the holidays, made another attempt to change his mind.

"Come on," she cajoled in an unnaturally jolly voice. "Me and James need an ally, to stop all the grownups getting tipsy and insisting we watch those awful Muggle comedy programs together as a family."

"Sorry, but my mind is made up," said Albus, swiftly changing the conversation to the mountains of homework they had received that week.

"It is because of what happened between me and Scorpius?" asked Rose eventually – it was clear by her expression she had been meaning to confront this issue for a while, and had just built up the courage.

"No, of course not," said Albus defensively. "Why would I be?"

"I don't know. You seemed pretty upset after what happened."

"You'd be upset if you had walked for a mile in a blizzard hoping to find some warmth and alcohol, and instead stumbling across a scene from a second rate porn movie."

Rose blushed, but blustered on.

"Are you sure it was just that? You two are so close. I don't want to come between you."

"Well Scorpius certainly wants to come between _you_. Between your legs, anyway."

"You're an asshole sometimes, do you know that?" said Rose angrily. "Nothing is going on between us. It was a drunken kiss, that's all. I can't believe how childish you are, pathetic really. Maybe you're just jealous because I've kissed him and you haven't."

And with that she stalked off, adding a second name to the growing list of people who Albus wasn't talking to.

 

\-------------------------------

 

Perhaps proving that blood is thicker than water, Albus and Rose had made up by the next day.

"Sorry for what I said," muttered Rose, handing over a huge box wrapped neatly in glittering Slytherin branded wrapping paper.

"You must be sorry if you're spending money on Slytherin merchandise just to make it up to me," replied Albus with a smile.

"I know, I hope nobody from Griffindor saw me buying it!"

Albus unwrapped it to find a huge food hamper, filled with every variety of sweet available in the wizarding world, as well as rare fudges and chocolates.

"Thought you needed fattening up," said Rose. "They can keep you company at Christmas when you're here all alone."

"I won't be alone," said Albus, "Most of the teachers are staying too, and some other pupils."

Soon they were greedily tearing into the hamper, sat cross legged on the floor with wrappers strewn around them.

"Has...has Scorpius asked about me?" Rose asked tentatively, as if fearful of the reaction in might provoke..

"No," said Albus dismissively, feeling ashamed of the twinge of pleasure he felt as he watched her face fall, unable to conceal her disappointment. Albus failed to mention that he had not actually spoken to his friend since the incident. "Why would he mention you - it was just a drunken kiss, wasn't it? That's what you said."

"Well, it was...of course it was. I just wondered if he had said anything...didn't want things to be awkward."

Albus let out an audible snort. "When have things not been awkward between you two?"

"Well don't blame me for that," she said hotly. "It isn't my fault his father was an evil bastard who tried to kill our parents."

"How is that Scorpius' fault? You don't choose your parents."

They had been through this argument so many times it seemed pointless to bicker about it again.

"Look, I'm sure he is just embarrassed about the situation, that's all," said Albus, attempting to steer the conversation into calmer waters. The last thing he needed was another argument. "You've disliked each other for so long, it must be weird."

"He doesn't look embarrassed, swaggering around the school with his Quidditch cronies, making loud obscene jokes, probably about me."

"Maybe that is his way of hiding his embarrassment?" suggested Albus with a sigh.

Noticing the sudden look of weariness on her cousins face, Rose left the subject and they spent another happy hour gluttonously forcing down chunks of gloriously creamy fudge, unpredictable every flavour beans and toffee chews that expanded in the mouth until they exploded.

"I think I need to be sick," gulped Rose, and lurched away to the girls bathroom.

 

\---------------------------

 

Selena accosted Albus as he was walking to breakfast the next morning. They hadn't spoken since they shared a kiss under the mistletoe, and Albus felt distinctly flustered. Selena, on the other hand, was far too graceful for anything as vulgar as awkwardness, and gave him her usual alluring smile.

It was the last day of term, and there was a real buzz around the castle, with students excited to be going home for the holidays. The sky outside was a piercing blue, and winter sun streamed through the windows of the Great Hall. Lessons finished at 2PM, and most were planning to spend their final afternoon on the ice rink or gathered around fires drinking butter beer.

"You look tired," said Selena.

"Didn't get much sleep again," muttered Albus.

"Well, don't fall asleep this afternoon," said Selena. "Meet me in the storeroom on the sixth floor at two o'clock. We're going to hit the ice."

"If we're going ice skating why do we need to meet all the way up there?" said Albus doubtfully. "Can't we just meet in the entrance hall?"

"Nope, I need to borrow some skates from the supplies in there."

"Right, OK," said Albus, unable to think of an excuse not to. "I'm blaming you if I fall over and cut myself. I'm even worse at ice skating than I am at dancing..."

"It's a date!" said Selena brightly, before she glided away.

So after his final charms lesson was over, Albus dragged himself up the many winding staircases of the castle to the sixth floor, stopping briefly in a bathroom to try and sort his hair out, which was refusing to be contorted in any sort of stylish shape. He fumbled for some everlasting breath spray buried in the inside pocket of his robes, a birthday gift from Scorpius which gave your mouth a fresh, minty odor for several days. Fumbling with the tube, he dropped it on the floor and crinkled his face as he picked it up from on top of a small plastic bag covered in a sort of white residue.

As he approached the entrance to the storeroom, he saw Selena waiting outside, looking at her watch impatiently. And then, walking from the other direction, he saw the unmistakable outline of a figure with white blond hair, pale skin and a graceful, slightly arrogant walk. Scorpius Malfoy.

Selena gave a self satisfied smile as they came to a halt either side of her.

"What's he doing here!?" said the two boys in unison.

"You're both here to kiss and make up," she said imperiously.

"What! You told me we were coming up here to find Lockhart's hidden wine stash!" said Scorpius in confusion.

"You told me we were going ice skating!" exclaimed Albus angrily.

"Did I?" replied Selena innocently. "I meant ice melting. I thought you two could thaw your friendship out in here."

And with surprising strength and agility, she shoved both boys through the entrance into the storeroom, and with a flick of her wand made the door fly shut and the lock click.

"I'll be back later," she called cheerily to the enraged boys who were now pressed up against one and other in the tiny store cupboard.

Albus conjured a light and walked towards the door.

" _Alhomora_ ," he shouted, but the lock remained firmly shut. "She must have put a bloody lock sticking charm on it!" He kicked the door a couple of times, but it refused to move and eventually he was forced to concede defeat. He perched on a tin of spider repellent paint and glowered across the tiny space at his blond friend.

"I suppose this was your idea," he said bitterly.

"Oh yeah, definitely," said Scorpius sarcastically, who was leaning against a wall at the back of the tiny rectangular room. "There's nothing I like more than spending my leisure time imprisoned in store cupboards. Something of a fetish of mine, to tell you the truth..."

They sat in silence for twenty minutes, until eventually Scorpius sighed and said "Look mate, I'm sorry. I really am. I shouldn't have taken Rose to our hidden place. If I'd known you were going to walk in...well, I didn't think anyone would bother to look for me when I left the ball. You seemed like you were having a perfectly good time without me."

"I never have a good time without you," said Albus quietly.

"You never have a good time, period! You're a right miserable bastard!" said Scorpius, with his mischievous smile.

"Of course I'm miserable; I spend most of my free time with you," countered Albus with a grin, and the ice was finally broken.

The conversation went in varying spurts, sometimes filled with juvenile banter, sometimes filled with serious talk.

"So...do you love Rose?" asked Albus with a gulp, fearing the answer.

"I don't know," said Scorpius honestly. "I don't think so. Mostly I think I wanted her because she didn't want me, in a weird way. Sort of a challenge...and it felt like if she finally accepted me after what my father put her family through...then maybe the world would be able to accept me as well."

"Stop being dramatic - the world adores you," scoffed Albus. "You're the most popular kid in school."

"Well, with a face as gorgeous as mine it is inevitable," joked Scorpius, flicking his hair to the side with an ironic flourish.

"Nah, they just all feel sorry for you because you're such a delusional mentalist," grinned Albus.

"Let's not let anyone come in between us again," said Scorpius, suddenly serious.

"Deal," said Albus.

"Shall we hug it out?"

"Go on then," said Albus with mock resignation.

He pulled Scorpius into a tight embrace, burying his head in his shoulder, feeling all the stress and misery of the last week flow out of him. They stayed there for several minutes, neither willing to let go.

"Ugh, I want to vomit," said Selena, surveying the scene from the open doorway. "So damn cute!" Neither Albus or Scorpius had noticed her come back into the room.

 

\-------------------

 

Filled with festive happiness and a newfound energy, Albus and Scorpius insisted on taking Selena down to the ice skating rink, where the three of them skidded around hand in hand screaming and laughing. With the bracing winter air against his face, the fading sun in the blue sky and the exhilaration of skating across the ice at high velocity, Albus wasn't sure he had ever felt so free or joyful or alive.

Their reverie was interrupted with a shout and a crash at the other end of the rink. Out of the corner of his eye, Albus had noticed with a wry smile Paris Black chatting up some much older girls and attempting a running back flip on the ice to impress them. He had managed to perform the spectacular acrobatic maneuver with some distinction, but upon landing had toppled to the floor and found his momentum taking him in an uncontrollable skid towards the foot of a Quidditch goalpost. The crunch of body on steel inevitably followed, the post embedding itself plum between his legs.

Albus tried not to laugh as he and Selena skated over to see Paris lying prostate, clearly in considerable pain. He was banging his feet against the ice and holding the sensitive region of his crotch with a look of utmost shock in his eyes. Scorpius looked on, unable to suppress a smile as Albus helped Paris to his feet, and then unsteady and unskilled on his own skates fell to the ground himself, dragging his young injured friend with him and giving the two of them grazed elbows to go with Paris' more tender injury. Eventually, they were all hauled up rather farcically by the gaggle of girls Paris had been trying to impress and an exasperated looking Selena, and helped to the edge of the pitch.

Scorpius was still laughing when he felt a tap on his shoulder, and heard a female voice behind him.

"Hi," said Rose Weasley, skating around to face him.

"Oh, hello," he said with surprise in his voice.

"What's happening over there?" she asked.

"Just Albus and Paris sliding around on the ice, with painful results" he replied.

"Ouch," said Rose, squinting to see Albus rubbing his bleeding elbow in the distance. "Look...I just wanted to say sorry," she added nervously.

"For what?" said Scorpius.

"For the way I've been to you the last four years. I know I've taken my feelings for your father out on you. And that isn't fair."

"I'm nothing like my father, you know," said Scorpius.

"I know," said Rose. "Albus thinks the world of you – and he is as good a judge of character as anyone I know."

"Draco isn't a danger to anyone now," said Scorpius. "Unless you're worried about death by boredom – I've never felt the Cruciatus Curse but it can't be a worse form of torture than listening to him drone on about precious metals with alchemic properties for an hour."

"I think I'll always be a bit scared of your father because of what he put my parents through...but that doesn't mean we can't be friends...if you want to be, that is..."

"Yeah, definitely," said Scorpius warmly, feeling in the festive spirit.

Rose came closer and gave him a kiss on his pale, smooth cheek.

"See you after Christmas," she said, skating away. Scorpius watched her loom slowly into the distance, wondering whether to feel pleased, confused, exasperated or all three. He watched her stop and talk to Albus on the edge of the rink, give him and long hug and a kiss on the cheek, and then she was gone.

 

\------------------------------

 

Albus and Scorpius had initially planned to spend their last evening together watching the annual festive performance put on by the teachers. This year, however, it had been hijacked by Gilderoy Lockhart. The script was repetitive in the extreme, and every scene appeared to be some variation on a formula which involved a person finding themselves in a life threatening situation, and being saved by the heroics of Lockhart, who would steam in at the last minute to fight off some kind of hideous monster.

Worse still, Lockhart had noticed Albus sitting in the back row, and kept giving him smug surreptitious winks from the stage. Albus groaned when this happened for the fourth time in only twenty minutes.

"This is boring," he muttered to Scorpius, who was shaking in silent laughter watching his friend grow more and more uncomfortable. "Shall we go?"

"If we must," said Scorpius. "Shame really, I was just enjoying watching you squirm. You'll be fending off his lecherous advances at the Christmas table if he has too much wine, he has taken a real shine to you..."

"He'll get a fork in the eye if he tries anything," vowed Albus. "That'll ruin his pretty face."

They returned to the deserted common room, which was silent except for the warm crackling of the fire in the grate. Albus yawned widely.

"I might go to bed early," he announced.

"Good idea, you do look tired," said Scorpius. "Shall I read you a story and tuck you in?"

"Of course."

They headed upstairs to their empty dormitory, quickly washed and cleaned their teeth. Albus climbed into his bed, snuggling up to a hot water bottle, watching Scorpius gargle mouthwash loudly in the reflection of the bathroom mirror.

"So, what bedtime story are you reading to me then?" said Albus playfully as his friend returned in his green pajamas. "Do you actually own any books, other than the Witch Weekly Guys Grooming Guide?"

"I've got a very varied range of reading material as it happens," said Scorpius feigning annoyance. "In fact, I know just the right literary classic for this festive occasion."

He pulled out a battered copy of Quidditch Queens Disrobed from under his bed, and perched on top of Albus' sheets. They shuffled until they were sat next to each other, leaning back against the bedstead, both with wide grins. Albus could already feel his erection throbbing, and it had nothing to do with the scantily clad ladies on the cover of the magazine.

For half an hour they flicked through the well worn pages, slipping their hands down pajama bottoms and rubbing their respective manhoods. Eventually Scorpius said, "Right, I'm going to bed." Albus knew this was because his friend was particularly turned on and wanted to relieve himself – they had just reached the centerfold of the magazine, which depicted famed seeker Sally Shemlock putting her broom handle in places where it definitely didn't belong.

"OK," yawned Albus. "Good night." He waited until Scorpius was back in bed before extinguishing the dorm lights with a wave of his wand. He enjoyed seeing the sizable rod of his friend prodding through his cotton bottoms as he climbed into his duvet. He was sure Scorpius had caught him looking out of the corner of his eye, and bitten his lip.

Now surrounded by darkness, Albus heard a swish of fabric as Scorpius closed the curtains surrounding his bed. Albus lay staring at the ceiling, slowly rubbing his penis, fantasizing about Scorpius kissing him gently, climbing on top of him, forcing himself inside him.

After several minutes he suddenly heard the unmistakable sound of hand on flesh, the squelch of a foreskin being forced up and down. Scorpius either thought Albus was asleep, or had simply forgotten to use the silencing charm to conceal his masturbation.

Albus felt his heart in his mouth, as he considered an act of daring as such he had never attempted before. He lay inert, trying to pluck up the courage for almost a minute, as he heard the breaths get heavier and the squelching get faster. Amazed by his own boldness, he pulled back his duvet, crept quietly to his feet and walked over to Scorpius' bed.

He pulled back the corner of the curtain and poked his head around it. Scorpius stopped instantly, a look of surprise and confusion on his face at the invasion of his privacy.

"Do you need a hand?" Albus murmured, looking at his friend almost pleadingly. Scorpius simply nodded. Albus felt his stomach drop in anticipation. He climbed onto the bed and shut the curtain behind him. Pulling back the duvet, he let out a moan of pure desire, as he saw Scorpius' long, firm length uncovered for the first time. Albus felt like he was going to come uncontrollably inside his own pajama bottoms if he couldn't contain himself; he had never felt such excitement or guttural desire.

He reached out with his soft right hand and grasped Scorpius' warm, erect cock, feeling his friend intake breath sharply at the contact. Albus looked down upon the cock hungrily, and began moving his hand up and down in slow, rhythmic motions, emboldened by the barely audible groans of pleasure Scorpius was emitting.

Albus began to lick his friends torso, tongue circling the nipples of Scorpius until they were completely stiffened, all the time still fondling and caressing his dick. At the pleasure of twin simulation Scorpius began thrusting his hips forward, fucking Albus' hand as fast as he could. Albus responded by grasping his cock tighter, quickening his strokes and in a matter of seconds Scorpius had cried out and shot his load all over his own chest.

"Happy Christmas," said Albus softly. "See you after the holidays."

Scorpius was unable to respond and could only nod, breathing heavily, brain spinning from the unbelievable release of his first orgasm at the hands of someone other than himself.

Albus began to climb out of bed and back through the curtains. Scorpius grabbed him by his pajama top and pulled him back, giving him a kiss so loving and tender that Albus was unable to contain himself any longer and felt his cock twitching in his trousers as he came involuntarily with a gasp.

He wasn't sure what presents his family had bought him for Christmas, but he was certain that nothing would match up to the gift he had received tonight.


End file.
